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think the Violet Civilization will do next?”
    “They’ll be coming back looking for trouble.”
    “Do you think their war with the Yellow Ships might delay them?”
    “Would it delay you if the same thing happened to us?”
    George shrugged.
    Jillian said, “The only way they were able to attack was by winning a major battle and having additional ships available. Now those ships are gone. They are in a much weaker position than before they came here.”
    Arvolo shrugged as well.
    Chris said, “You still think they’ll come?”
    “Who’s the bigger threat?”
    George laughed out loud and said, “Bravo, Admiral.”
    Chris looked at George and then RV, “Please explain what I’m missing.”
    “If four of us are fighting three of you with big sticks and we’re pretty much holding our own, I might send the extra stick to take care of someone that might join the attack against us. However, I learn that the one I sent to eliminate the possible attacker was killed instantly by something that sent a metal projectile through him; I might view the one holding that weapon as a bigger threat than the ones with the sticks. I suspect my fear might drive me to take chances I wouldn’t normally take.”
    Dolly said, “We killed their entire fleet in less than two minutes. Do you think they might know it happened that fast?”
    George said, “Dolly, if the Admiral’s ship suddenly stopped communicating during a battle, what would you do?”
    “I would contact another ship.”
    “And if that ship didn’t answer as well?”
    “I’d have our communications section attempt to contact any ship that was with him.”
    “And if after two minutes you discover that none of your ships are answering?”
    Dolly sighed and said, “They’re coming back. They have no choice.”
    Arnold said, “Why don’t they have a choice?”
    “What if this unknown enemy decides to attack while they’re in the middle of a huge battle with the Yellow Ships and blows a hold in their line.” George looked at Arvolo and said, “If the Blue Giants aren’t in their galaxy, where do you think they’ll look first?”
    Arvolo said, “That’s how I see it. They’ll be coming here and we are going to be rushed to change our ships before they arrive.”
    George furrowed his brow, “What do you mean change our ships?”
    “They are going to have to be modified to fight differently. We need to remove the Needles from them and change the Needle launch tubes to striker tubes. We also need to change our attack craft to a larger model that can carry a much larger payload than the Needles.”
    Jeff said, “What role will the Needles play in the future?”
    “They will be strictly used for ship defense.”
    George said, “Tell me what you see, Admiral?”
    Arvolo restarted the video of the attack on the Violet Fleet and stopped it at the moment the main guns and strikers hit the force field. “I want you to look at this impact by one of our main gun’s pulses on the force field right here.” The group watched as the beam hit and the force field flashed, but didn’t fail. Arvolo moved the pointer to the left and backed the video up slightly, “Now watch what happens here when a striker hits the force field.” The group watched the slow motion view of the striker hitting the force field and saw a massive blast punch a huge hole through it.
    Dolly said, “Our beams won’t penetrate.”
    Arvolo nodded, “They come close, but when those Violet Ships have their force fields overlapping, only the striker will penetrate.”
    George said, “The beams still killed a lot of their ships.”
    “Yes they did but only after a striker cleared the way for them to get through.”
    George leaned back and said, “Tell us what you want done to our ships.”
    “First, I want the Needle Tubes set up to fire a striker as big as a Needle.”
    George got out his calculator and ran some quick calculations. “Is the nose of the new striker going to be